Stock Picker: 'Upside' for Rest of the Year

After a frantic week on Wall Street, Empire Executions president Peter Costa has some calmly-reasoned ideas about where stock-market investors should put their money. (See below for his stock recommendations.)

"I do think the economy is going to get better, and, as I've been saying for a month and a half, I think by the second half of this year, we're going to see a decided increase in the economy," he told CNBC.

What about the rally of the last several days?

"I think it has more to go," he said. "I think we're in the tail end of the recession; it's a very good time to start buying stocks; we'll have some pullbacks here and there, but the long-term trend from here to the end of the year, we're going to be decidedly on the upside."

Recommendations:

Putting that to work, Costa likes UPS.

"It's a very well-placed, well-managed company that has a ton of cash on hand," he said.

He also recommends the United States Natural Gas fund .

"Natural gas is relatively cheap right now, and I think as the economy does start to expand again, that would be a good play," he said.